206 research outputs found
Biodiversity and planetary health: a call for integrated action.
No full textIn the face of escalating biodiversity loss, the imperative role of compre- hensive research and conservation strategies has never been more pressing. The National Biodiversity Future Centre (NBFC) in Italy stands at the forefront of tackling biodiversity loss, pioneering innovative approaches within the Mediterranean’s biodiversity hotspot
FIGURE 2 in Untangling the Evolution of American Wild Grapes: Admixed Species and How to Find Them
No full textFIGURE 2 | (A) The Maximum Likelihood (ML)-tree inferred by TreeMix under the strictly bifurcating model. The scale bar shows ten times the average standard error (s.e.) of the entries in the sample covariance matrix. Drift parameter is shown on the x-axis. (B) Scaled residuals from the fit of the model to the data. Without migration events 91.7% of the variance in relatedness between taxa was explained by the tree. Colors are described in the palette on the right.Published as part of Zecca, Giovanni, Labra, Massimo & Grassi, Fabrizio, 2020, Untangling the Evolution of American Wild Grapes: Admixed Species and How to Find Them, pp. 1-17 in Frontiers in Plant Sciences (1814) 10 on page 6, DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01814, http://zenodo.org/record/788902
Experimenting with RRI tools to Drive Sustainable Agri-Food Research: The SASS Case Study from Sub-Saharan Africa
No full textThe need to develop experimental tools for a responsible research and innovation (RRI) framework is relevant for managing research agendas and policy making that seriously take into account the complex conditions of innovation development (linked to multidisciplinarity and interaction processes) between the researchers and their fieldwork activities. The adoption of an RRI framework is even more important for multidisciplinary and complex issues, such as the agri-food system. In this context, the SASS (Sustainable Agri-food Systems for Sustainable Development (SASS) project represents a good example for verifying the application of the RRI strategy in a varied research group committed to the development of sustainable agri-food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project, which involves more than 50 researchers from different fields of knowledge and theoretical backgrounds, showed the importance of the processes of reflection, re-driving, and convergence in the definition of research objectives and strategies. This process started by experimenting with new dedicated RRI tools in order to allow interactions between the researchers, including exchanging their experience in data collection and theoretical reflection development. With respect to this analysis, it was interesting to analyze how the RRI tools and strategies have been activated between researchers and different stakeholders, generating reflections capable of re- adapting the results towards shared and accessible innovation for the extended society. Following the discussion based on the description of the SASS-RRI agenda tools and following an internal verification given from an RRI-based web survey, this contribution provides new insights, in terms of tools and strategies, to promote and refine RRI approaches. This work underlines how RRI methods have promoted internal and external interactions to connect the research objectives towards a model of open innovation
Biodiversity and planetary health: a call for integrated action
No full textIn the face of escalating biodiversity
loss, the imperative role of comprehensive
research and conservation
strategies has never been more
pressing. The National Biodiversity
Future Centre (NBFC) in Italy
stands at the forefront of tackling
biodiversity loss, pioneering
innovative approaches within the
Mediterranean’s biodiversity hotspot.
In this Correspondence,
we aim
to highlight the pressing need for
synchronised efforts in protecting
our
planet’s biological wealth, which is
fundamental to sustaining life as we
know it
Early Molecular Detection of Invasive Alien Plants in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas
No full textInvasive alien plants represent one of the five major threats to biodiversity and the disruption of ecosystems. They are introduced through various routes, starting with commercial trade. Preventing their introduction is essential to avoid the spread of new invasive plants. In this paper, we propose a new early warning DNA barcoding tool for invasive plant detection. Eight invasive alien species of European Union concern (i.e., Ludwigia grandiflora, Elodea nuttallii, Myriophyllum aquaticum, Pontederia crassipes, Ailanthus altissima, Heracleum mantegazzianum, Impatiens glandulifera, Pueraria montana) were selected and analysed. A unique DNA marker for each species was identified and amplified using species-specific primers capable of identifying the presence of alien species. To verify whether the approach could detect the presence of alien plants in urban areas from lawn clippings, mixes with typical urban spontaneous plants and invasive species were tested. In all mixes, only the invasive species was identified. This rapid detection capability will enable environmental operators to intervene promptly to contain the spread of invasive plants before they can cause significant damage to the local ecosystem. This tool could have a significant impact on the protection of local biodiversity and the integrity of urban habitats
Valorisation, Green Extraction Development, and Metabolomic Analysis of Wild Artichoke By-Product Using Pressurised Liquid Extraction UPLC–HRMS and Multivariate Data Analysis
No full textValorisation of food by-products has recently attracted considerable attention due to the opportunities to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the food production chain. Large quantities of non-edible parts of the artichoke plant (Cynara cardunculus L.) comprising leaves, stems, roots, bracts, and seeds are discarded annually during industrial processing. These by-products contain many phytochemicals such as dietary fibres, phenolic acids, and flavonoids, whereby the most challenging issue concerns about the recovery of high-added value components from these by-products. The aim of this work is to develop a novel valorisation strategy for the sustainable utilisation of artichoke leaves’ waste, combining green pressurised-liquid extraction (PLE), spectrophotometric assays and UPLC–HRMS phytochemical characterization, to obtain bioactive-rich extract with high antioxidant capacity. Multivariate analysis of the major selected metabolites was used to compare different solvent extraction used in PLE
Poisonous or non-poisonous plants? DNA-based tools and applications for accurate identification
No full textPlant exposures are among the most frequently reported cases to poison control centres worldwide. This is a growing condition due to recent societal trends oriented towards the consumption of wild plants as food, cosmetics, or medicine. At least three general causes of plant poisoning can be identified: plant misidentification, introduction of new plant-based supplements and medicines with no controls about their safety, and the lack of regulation for the trading of herbal and phytochemical products. Moreover, an efficient screening for the occurrence of plants poisonous to humans is also desirable at the different stages of the food supply chain: from the raw material to the final transformed product. A rapid diagnosis of intoxication cases is necessary in order to provide the most reliable treatment. However, a precise taxonomic characterization of the ingested species is often challenging. In this review, we provide an overview of the emerging DNA-based tools and technologies to address the issue of poisonous plant identification. Specifically, classic DNA barcoding and its applications using High Resolution Melting (Bar-HRM) ensure high universality and rapid response respectively, whereas High Throughput Sequencing techniques (HTS) provide a complete characterization of plant residues in complex matrices. The pros and cons of each approach have been evaluated with the final aim of proposing a general user’s guide to molecular identification directed to different stakeholder categories interested in the diagnostics of poisonous plants
2000. SOMACLONAL VARIATION IN TRANSGENIC PLANTS. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 530:411-420http://www.actahort.org/books/530/530_48.htm
No full textThis paper summarises our experience of the molecular and field analysis of somaclonal variation within transgenic plant populations. Transgenic rice, poplar and sugarcane plants were produced with different transformation protocols. These were based on protoplast treatment, Agrobacterium tumefaciens infection, particle acceleration or intact cell electroporation, all having in common dedifferentiated cell culture, followed by plant regeneration and selection. Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants have also been produced by an approach that apparently does not require cell dedifferentiation. This is based on in planta Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer by infiltration of adult Arabidopsis thaliana plants. The presence and activity of the foreign gene in the transgenic genome has been verified by conventional methods (PCR, Southern, Northern and Western blotting). Genomic changes have been evaluated with PCR-based tools (RFLP, RAPD, AFLP, RAMP and AFRP). The statistical analysis of the polymorphic DNA bands produced by these tools provided the basis for answering some basic questions related to the conditions that favour induction, frequency, inheritance and commercial exploitation of transgenic somaclonal variants
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